Thursday, February 27, 2014

Snell Isle

Snell Isle, listed as "Snell Island" on some maps, is a deluxe island neighborhood north of downtown St. Petersburg. It was founded by a Kentuckian - a pharmacist named C. Perry Snell who moved to Florida in the year 1900 and set about building a resort-community empire. According to an article in the May/June 2005 issue of Tampa Bay Magazine:

When the development, originally a muddy mangrove island, officially opened in October 1925, only 39 of its 275 acres were above the high tide line. Even so, Snell quickly sold over seven million dollars worth of lots there.

The island is filled with stunning architecture and statuary, and continues on if you follow the road into a bewildering maze of those television-antenna-looking islands - like the Venetian Isles, Eden Isle, and Harbor Isle (not to be confused with Tampa's Harbor Island.) Trudge far enough northward and you'll eventually reach the dark and swampy Weedon Island.